“Ruined” moves the action in Brecht’s tale to a bar and whorehouse in the crossfire of the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.

In an interview Monday with the Chicago Tribune, Nottage described herself as jubilant.

“I don’t write a play expecting to get produced,” she said, “let alone win a Pulitzer Prize.”

The other finalists were “Becky Shaw” by Gina Gionfriddo and “In The Heights” by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes.

“Ruined” is a co-production between New York’s Manhattan Theatre Club and Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. It is currently playing at the MTC in New York through May 10. This is the MTC’s sixth Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Nottage is also the author of “Intimate Apparel,” which was performed at the Arvada Center in 2009. She also wrote “Fabulation.”

“Ruined” is described as “a haunting, probing work about the resilience of the human spirit during times of war.”

Set in a small mining town in Democratic Republic of Congo, this powerful play follows Mama Nadi, a shrewd businesswoman in a land torn apart by civil war. But is she protecting or profiting by the women she shelters? How far will she go to survive? Can a price be placed on a human life?

“We’ve spent the last eight years being told not to engage with the world,” Nottage told the Chicago Tribune. “think there is a great hunger now to do so.”